I happened to be reading a discussion board of a Finnish newspaper (not quite of tabloid level, but almost), where some people were discussing their views on self-defence. This is important because the Finnish laws (or rather the way they are read) SUCK HARD... But anyway some things people posted there were rather 'interesting', if not surprising:

- Women, at the same time, thought that a knee to the balls is both a sure defence, AND quite harmless at the same time.

- One guy said that punches to the nose should be avoided, because, you guessed it, 'the nose bone can pierce the brain'... No comments...

- Another guy was wondering why everyone was so much intent on striking the attacker back, and proposed that you should just dodge or block the blows (!?). This is pretty much what you'll have to do in Finland if you don't want to get punished yourself, though....

- A woman, who claimed to have learned this move at a karate class, said that if a rapist tackled her, she'd wait him to let go first, because 'they have to do this to open their zipper'. Then you should SLAP BOTH OF YOUR HANDS OVER HIS EARS, because this hurts a lot and damages your balance (arrghh). What the rapist would even care about balance when he was already on top of her, I don't know....

ouch, ouch, ouch... guess what, it's possible to open the belt and zipper with one hand, holding down the poor woman's throat with the other. I hope she'll never find that out in person. And I really don't know what people are thinking - that an attacker would never, ever conceive that someone tries to kick his nuts, or what? It's not that hard to prevent...

There are no wrong threats, only wrong answers. (Strategy game truism)

To be honest, I think that "unarmed self defence" is, as of itself, not a good idea. If I was truly concerned about defending myself, I would certainly look for other, more effective options. If I was concerned with my girlfriend defending herself, I would certainly not put her in an empty-handed martial art.

As far as rape goes, funny as it is, I think BJJ will be a great option for women. I think that a girl with a good guard should be able to neutralize stronger untrained men. I would definitly not advocate any of the "self defence" arts, though, that rely on groin kicks, eye gauges, and the like.

"If I was truly concerned about defending myself, I would certainly look for other, more effective options. If I was concerned with my girlfriend defending herself, I would certainly not put her in an empty-handed martial art."

Yeah, but this is the problem I was assessing about Finnish laws... There's no way you can carry a gun for self-defence, for example (not that I would anyway), much less use one.

Mace or something like that might be OK I guess, I'm not quite sure about those.

Most rapes take place one on one, and in secluded places. Thus getting away quickly is not really a concern the way it is in bar fights and the like. Also, the smaller and lighter girl is going on her back like it or not, and I can't think of a better thing to do than wrap the guy up in a nice tight close guard, and wait until he tires out. I wouldn't really worry about submission attempts either until he's completely exhausted - just pull him in real tight, and control his hips and arms. The only real problem with that is the danger of getting slammed, but I would assume that most rapists would not think to do that.

At my school groin strikes are allowed (most of us wear cups) and stance and position do a lot to neutralize these attacks.

My fiancee actually also tries this in jest sometimes and it is indeed easy to prevent. Though when done in combination with an attempted toothbrush attack she was actually able to mildly "slice" my chest before I could grab her wrist and take the toothbrush away. It was actually a nice combo.

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My single chopstick is bad at serving soup, cutting steaks and basting roasts and chickens. Besides that it owns.